#craftofodisha

January 4th, 2019

Once again it was a little sunny in Antia, we continued our workshop on tassel covers to improve the finishing and acquire a proper size and shape as well as making balls in a perfect round shape.

The ball joining problem was a challenge so we asked one of the best artisans to take on the challenge. As she started making the ball and joining it, she found the trick and solved it. With some of our other artisans we have tried to come up with some new designs and the results have been good. It was a bit confusing at first for the artisans to make new designs as they were used to weave only copying the traditional techniques. Using their own creativity was also a challenge for them but they’ve accomplished it.

January 24

On January 24th we started our training session, the artisans were quite happy and showing a little more motivation towards the work we had given them the day before. Now they are already respecting the times we agreed in terms of punctuality and, surprisingly, they all arrived before.

We came to find a new weaving style and decided to set up a little competition activity among the artisans. For that we gave them some more difficult designs than the ones they had done before so we can really motivate them and judge their actual potential. During this task we were able to see some healthy competitive spirit among the artisans, they all had fun and they realized their true potential.

The workshop concluded with the visit of both our Chairman and Managing Trustee to judge the designs that the artisans made.

 January 23th, 2019

Today we encountered a fine weather in Antia village in Jajpur, Odisha. We started our workshop with the artisans, our aim was to see all of them in action and assess who was working good and who was really serious and commited on the work.

We decided set up an exchange of products among the artisans with the products they were making in the previous workshop session and let them figure out if each one of them could recreate the object that their fellow artisan had made. Through this challenge we wanted to see if they could all make all sorts of products and also make them realize how hard it is to take upon the task of  another person. They mainly made tassel covers, balls and mushrooms.

It was a very challenging activity, however it was difficult for us to figure out right away which of the artisans was working better and giving their best. So, we decided to continue our workshop the next day.

Despite everything it was a good day for our team because we met some new, very talented artisans who are very interested in making our products. Hopefully a new partnership will begin.

January 15th, 2019.

We reached Antia village in Jajpur, Odissa, at around 10 am in the morning. The sun was shinning and there were some clouds floating. This was the first time I visited a village known for their expertise in age old tradition of making beautiful crafts out of golden grass. We arrived at the master craftsman’s house (we call her Mausi) where the artisans have gathered. They greeted us with warm smiles and I got introduced to everyone. First thing I observed was that the crafts are done by women.

Then it was time for a CSR shoot for Jindal Industries (the Golden Grass Project sponsors). The crew interacted with the artisans to get a better understanding of how to portray their story on audio visual. They shot how the artisans were making their crafts. They also captured the intricate details of the golden grass crafts.

Next it was time for the workshop where they were making a very unique non-traditional piece i.e. magic mushrooms using golden grass and cotton. I was fascinated by the way they were sewing the grass by hand using only a needle and effortlessly while chatting and giggling with each other. The raw material is provided by the crafstmaster ‘Mausi’. There were 14 girls that day in which very few of them go to school or college. They were all good at making the products, but some of them were more skilled than the others. Mita Rana, for example, has a niche in the way she weaves the grass. As I chatted with her I could almost feel the effects of the present time, while in the past they used to make the crafts whenever they had free time but now they prefer to spend that time watching television or on mobile phones. I also felt some of them lacked motivation as they couldn’t fathom the importance of reviving this craft for the betterment of their community.

January 12th, 2019.

It was sunny in Antia today. The aim of today’s workshop was to make a new design which was also new to the artisans and work on their shaping skills. The design was to do a golden grass object in the shape of a mushroom. We started the training with a discussion on the mushroom size and shape and decided to make 11 mushrooms as the first prototype by lunchtime. The goal with this activity was for them to train themselves in the shaping of the products.

After a while we had a lovely lunch in village made by the artisans.

January 3rd 

The day started of with a warm weather after a rather chilly night in Antia village in Jajpur (Odisha). On December 27th we have gave the artisans a task, to make 30 pieces of tassel covers and 3 pieces of balls. The final result was quite ok and most of the artisans have shown a good improvement on the tassel cover making. On the other hand, we faced a little problem with fixing the balls in terms of shape. After a lot of brainstorming we may have found a solution to fix it.

After seeing all the products we started our training once again to better the quality of the tassel cover. We asked the artisans to make another 5 pieces, now focusing on perfecting their shapes and sizes. As of now, the tassel cover that they’re making hasn’t reached the level of international market standards but we are quite confident that  the tassel cover will be perfect soon.

December 24th, 2019

It's the last day of our visit, it was our day of post analytical decisions and the appraise of final results. We have to introspect on how far we’ve come and how our actions and outputs are shaping a better tomorrow for the artisans and the products they make.

December 23rd, 2019

This was a challenging day for us. We tried to make the artisans aware of the importance of the size classification of the grass. So we initiated the day with classifying of the grass in different sections and were helping and monitoring them regularly.

The artisans were divided in groups and the groups were oriented to create different sized products.